Renowned restaurateur and author Joyce Goldstein's "Italian Slow and Savory" (Chronicle Books; $40).
San Francisco Chronicle food writer Janet Fletcher's "Four Seasons Pasta" (Chronicle Books; $19.95)

North Bay Bohemian
By Gretchen Giles
November 3-9, 2004

... Renowned restaurateur and author Joyce Goldstein embraces the Italy-based Slow Food movement with the glories included in her latest work, Italian Slow and Savory (Chronicle Books; $40). Goldstein is serious about cooking and eating in the Italian manner and learning to slow one's life down to the pulse of enjoyment--"learning" being the relevant term, as she admits that when outside of that country, she's still apt to be a multitasking stress-freak like most other Americans.

"Slow" being somewhat subjective, Goldstein defines it as taking a culinary approach to any food, even a five-minute fish, and extending it to a golden half-hour. Anything that roasts or bakes or simmers or stews fits into this definition of the nonfast. As with her other cookbooks, Goldstein's style is straightforward and accessible, even for such delicacies as pigeon and bread soup, which is neither a soup nor features pigeons, but is described by the words "soft and custardy." And so back into poetry we slide, landing firmly by her pork stew with apples

San Francisco Chronicle food writer Janet Fletcher feels that there is simply no healthier way to eat than a daily bowl of pasta lightly dressed with a homemade sauce and fresh vegetables. Her Four Seasons Pasta (Chronicle Books; $19.95) uses the harvest to determine the dinner. As with Ritchie and Goldstein, Fletcher's writing voice is that of a patient and interested friend who would simply like you to do as well at the stove as she does.

And, unlike many books devoted to the mysteries of pasta, Four Seasons doesn't beat the reader over the head with the superiority of the homemade variety. Rather, Fletcher agrees that for many dishes, homemade is preferable--assenting that she herself doesn't attempt it except on the weekends--but that many dried pastas are excellent. Best of all, she even names brands, a nicety many authors sidestep, making it that much harder to be at the market imitating them. Pronouncing DeCecco the best inexpensive dried brand marks Fletcher as a brave and rare woman in my estimation, and means that I'll be buying DeCecco.

In one nearly erotic recipe, Fletcher overly braises radicchio when she neglects to turn the heat out under a pan. She returns only to discover that the vegetable has "melted, merging with the onion and pancetta until you couldn't tease the parts apart," resulting in fresh ribbon pasta with braised radicchio, pancetta and parmesan. Yes, please.

Metroactive Dining | Cookbooks
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